PLANNING & EVALUATION
METHODOLOGY HANDBOOK
Planning, Evaluating and
Reviewing Youth Work
Engagement
1
SECTION
 INTRODUCTION
 QUALITY STANDARDS AND GOOD YOUTH
WORK PRACTICE
 PLANNING
 DELIVERY
 MONITORING
 EVALUATION
 PRACTICAL ACTION PLANNING FOR
CHANGE
 USEFUL INFORMATION AND RESOURCES
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Detailed contents list next page
2
CONTENTS
SECTION
PAGE
A. INTRODUCTION
 The aim of this tool kit
 How this tool kit works
 Overview
 Youth Work Curriculum Statement for Wales
B. QUALITY STANDARDS AND GOOD YOUTH WORK
PRACTICE
 What is good youth work practice?
 National Occupational Standards for Youth Work
C. PLANNING
 The Planning Cycle
 NAOMIE – the good practice framework for planning, monitoring
and evaluation
 Extending Entitlement
 Need
 Aims
 Objectives
 Methodology
 Implementation
 Evaluation
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
3
INTRODUCTION
 The aim of this handbook
To provide youth practitioners with a
handbook for guidance and resources
which outlines the importance of planning,
monitoring, reviewing and evaluating in
everyday youth work practice.
 How this handbook works
This handbook has been designed to
be used by youth practitioners to
support their day-to-day work with
young people.
4
 OVERVIEW
Quality services for young people do not just happen. They
rely on skilled confident youth workers, sufficient
resources, and decision making processes built around
young people. Youth Workers need to be able to manage
themselves and others, access and co-ordinate resources
including time and surrounding circumstances to reach a
specific goal.
The first stage is 'planning'
Workers need to plan their work with young people in
order to:
 Accurately estimate the time and effort required to complete
a project or programme
 Identify and organise systems and required resources
 Organise personal time to carry out responsibilities
 Maintain adequate preparation time for activities
 Develop schedules and timetables with clear, specific
milestones and deadlines
 Establish how to measure results and milestones
They need to 'prioritise'
 Identify critical tasks
 Arrange tasks in a logical order
 Establish priorities systematically, differentiating between
urgent, important and unimportant tasks
 Use a 'to do' list, task plan, or similar planning devices to
note action plans, deadlines etc.
 Monitor and adjust priorities and eliminate tasks on an ongoing basis
5
 YOUTH WORK CURRICULUM STATEMENT FOR
WALES
The Youth Work Curriculum Statement for Wales (2007) sets out
the overall strategy for youth services and is based on four
underpinning pillars: educative, expressive, participative and
empowering. These principles are used as a guide for planning
and implementing participative activities with intended positive
outcomes for young people.
Youth work through its voluntary
relationship with young people should offer opportunities for
learning that are:
Educative
Expressive
Enabling young people to gain skills, knowledge,
understanding, attitudes and values needed to identify,
advocate and pursue their rights and responsibilities as
individuals and as members of groups and communities
locally, nationally and internationally.
Encouraging and enabling young people to express
their emotions and aspirations through creative,
sporting and challenging opportunities which raise an
awareness of:
• Cultural identity
• Bilingualism and the value of one's own language
• Heritage
• Respect for diversity
• Citizenship and respect for others
Participative
Empowering
Where young people are encouraged to share
responsibility and to become equal partners,
fundamental to the learning processes and decision
making structures which affect their own and other
people's lives and environments.
Encouraging and enabling young people to
understand their rights and responsibilities to enable
them to act on personal, social and political issues which
affect their lives and the lives of others as responsible
citizens of the communities of which they are a part.
6
The Curriculum is delivered in a wide range of settings, using a
number of diverse activities involving young people in:
 Informal and structured educational programmes which
enhance their personal development
 Places and relationships within which they can enjoy
themselves, feel secure, supported and valued
 Discussing issues relating to health, relationships, behaviour,
and responsibilities
 Becoming sensitive to their community,
local and global
environments, culture and heritage
 Finding challenge, recognition and achievement through
adventurous activities
 Receiving information and advice through the availability of
published material, guidance, counselling and group discussion
 Developing skills through individual or team sports and taking
part in informal recreational activities in a safe environment
 Developing expressive skills through participation in dance,
music, visual arts, drama and role-play
 Travelling,
experiencing
residential
opportunities
and
international exchanges
7
SECTION B
QUALITY STANDARDS AND GOOD YOUTH WORK
PRACTICE
 What is good youth work practice?
Managing a well thought out and established system when it
comes to planning, monitoring and evaluation is essential for an
organisation to be able to implement high standards, co-ordinate a
thorough staff training and induction process, analyse and
evaluate their own work against their own standards and core
values.
Your own system does not have to be huge or complicated
but if you do not know exactly what you set out to do,
how do you know you have completed it or done it well?
Quality
standards
will
differ
slightly
from
organisation
to
organisation but there are some core elements that should be
incorporated into every organisation’s policies and procedures that
constitute ‘best practice’.
With reference to planning, monitoring and evaluation these would
include:
 Evidence of need
 Established aims and objectives or learning outcomes
 The involvement of young people in long and short term
planning
8
 Forms and procedures for recording session attendance and
personal data
 A balance of recording and monitoring both qualitative and
quantitative information
 Interim progress evaluation or regular reporting systems
 Regular staff review and debrief procedures
 Evaluation procedures for young people, staff and other
stakeholders at the end of the session or project
 Staff training and induction around the importance of planning
and evaluation plus operational issues regarding organisational
procedure
All of these procedures also need to comply with your
organisation’s
other
policies
including
health
and
safety, equality and diversity, child protection and data
protection.
9
 National Occupational Standards for Youth Work
“The National Occupational Standards define what each sector
agrees to be good practice. They define the competence required by
youth workers and can be used to develop and monitor these skills
in key individuals.”1
All standards promote the Key Purpose of Youth Work which is to work with
young people to facilitate their personal, social and educational development
and enable them to gain a voice, influence and place in society in a period of
their transition from dependence to independence.
The standards are designed to reflect the key aspects of Youth Work
and they are broken down into 6 distinct parts:
A
Build relationships with young people which enable
them
to
explore
and
make
sense
of
their
and
their
experiences and to plan and take action.
B
Facilitate
young
people’s
learning
personal and social development.
C
Enable young people to organise and take coresponsibility for activities, events and projects.
D
Work with young people in accordance with the
core values of youth work.
E
Plan, manage and develop Youth Work.
F
Support and develop effective, efficient and ethical
practice in Youth Work.
Good planning, monitoring and evaluating skills are at the core of
many of the standards shown above and are therefore essential for
teams and individuals in order to operate at the basic standard.
Good or best practice means going the extra mile, not just what is
standard or expected.
1
What can the National Occupational Standards do for you? PAULO/Lifelong Learning UK – ENT094/01/0305
10
PLANNING
The Planning-Evaluation Cycle
The distinctions between planning and evaluation are not always clear; this
cycle is described in many different ways with various phases claimed by both
planners and evaluators. Usually, the first stage of such a cycle, the planning
phase, is designed to elaborate a set of potential actions, programs or
projects and select the best for implementation. Depending on the young
people involved, the planning process could involve any or all of these stages:
 Identifying the ideas, issues, or concerns
 Detailing the ‘how’ young people want to address them and the
programme or project ideas
 The evaluation of the alternatives and the selection of the best one
 The implementation of their selected alternative
Although these stages are traditionally considered planning, there is a lot of
evaluation work involved.
The evaluation phase also involves a sequence of stages that typically
includes:
 The formulation of the major objectives, goals and project aims
 Identify the major components of the evaluation, namely the
programme, participants, setting, and measures
 The design of the evaluation and detailing how this will be carried out.
 Finally, the analysis of information, both qualitative and quantitative
and deciding how to use the evaluation results
11
Planning is a process for getting ideas into action. If you are systematic about
the process, action can be made easier and more effective. The approach can
be time consuming at first but since your action will be more effective, you
will save time in the long run.
A systematic approach gives you a method by which you can:

Check that what you want to do is worth doing

Find out which things are feasible

Arrange things properly

Use resources efficiently

Learn from both success and failure
12
EXTENDING ENTITLEMENT
Extending Entitlement2 is the Welsh Assembly Government’s
flagship policy for youth support services in Wales. It includes all
services, support and opportunities for young people between 11
and 25, wherever they happen, whoever is delivering them and
wherever the funding originates.
It is important for youth work practitioners to consider how their
work relates to Extending Entitlement by building aspects of ten
entitlements into their planning where appropriate. 'The Ten
Entitlements’ are:
1. Education, training and work experience tailored to young
people’s needs.
2. Basic skills which open doors to a full life and the promotion of
social inclusion.
3. A wide and varied range of opportunities to participate in
volunteering and active citizenship.
4. High quality, responsive and accessible services and facilities.
5. Independent, specialist careers advice and guidance, student
support and counselling services.
6. Personal support and advice where and when needed and in
appropriate formats with clear ground rules on confidentiality.
7. Advice on health, housing benefits and other issues provided in
accessible and welcoming settings.
8. Recreational and social opportunities in a safe and accessible
environment.
9. Sporting, artistic, musical and outdoor experiences to develop
talents, broaden horizons and promote rounded perspectives,
including both national and international contexts.
10. The right to be consulted, to participate in decision making and
to be heard on all matters which concern the or have an impact
on their lives.
2
Extending Entitlement,
http://wales.gov.uk/topics/childrenyoungpeople/participation/extendingentitlement1
13
NAOMIE – the good practice framework for
planning, monitoring and evaluation
The NAOMIE loop training model is just one of a number that
may be used when undertaking any form of planned activity.
The use of this type of training model should be regarded as an
aid to programming and not be regarded as a constraint to
planning an activity.
This method of programme planning may be used for various
types of activities and participation such as pool matches, interclub events, residential training or outdoor pursuits.
NAOMIE is a good practice model for planning, monitoring and
evaluating youth work.
It incorporates every stage a project
needs to go though and breaks down the planning phase into
smaller chunks:
This planning guide (NAOMIE) will help you become more
effective as a youth worker. It will help you question activities
before you begin. It will make planning easier and more logical. It
makes you think about being more time effective and help improve
on past performances.
14
What follows is a representation of NAOMIE as a systematic planning cycle.
The model shows how one stage follows from the other with Needs taken as a
starting point. In reality, whilst you will have all elements of such a cycle
represented in the way that you work, they may not follow this idealised
pattern. Some parts of the cycle may be given more attention than others,
and evaluation (including monitoring and review) may be left out altogether.
Needs
Evaluation
Aim
Objectives
Implementation
Methods
15
Tools for Planning an Activity or Project
Actions
Example
Needs
Determine the need for the activity – why are you planning
this activity?
Lack of meaningful youth participation within the project.
Aims
Once you have established the need for an activity you can
decide what the general aim of that activity will be. An aim is
a long term statement of intent. They are imprecise, often
ambiguous, give a general direction without time limit and are
often written from the point of view of a professional, ie. you
as the worker and what you intend to achieve with the
activity.
To Increase levels of participation of young people in the dayto-day running of the youth project.
Objectives
Whilst your aim illustrates what you, as the youth worker,
intend the activity to be, objectives describe what the young
people will be able to do, or know, or value if the learning
takes place, ie. objectives define a desired change of
behaviour - the learning outcomes.



Identify and source resources
Consult with other young people on any current issues
within the project
Consult with the Management Committee on any current
issues within the project

Plan projects to increase levels of participation of other
young people
Agree an agenda and demonstrate to young people how they
can participate in the day-to-day running of the project. Open
discussions for getting their views and voices heard.
Method
You need to decide which methods you are going to use in
order to achieve your objectives. For example, are you going
to show the young people a video or are you going to
demonstrate the activity yourself, or are the young people
going to learn by having a go themselves?
Implementation
Once you have chosen the methods you are going to use
then you need to decide how you will deliver the activity. This
implementation plan will include resources, (both human and
material), timing, bookings that need to be made, ie. for a
room or minibus, advertising the activity.
Flipcharts, Mindmaps, colourful pens, games and quizzes,
welcoming room, safe place. Funding for bus fares, rewards,
resources. Monitor the amount of young people participating.
Advertise on Social Network, Information Board, word of
mouth.
Evaluation
The Evaluation of the planned activity is as important as the
activity itself. Critical analysis allows the activity to be
improved in the future and also highlights reasons why an
activity did not go as well as planned.
Notes of meetings, Evaluation sheets outlining what was
good, what needs to be improved? Inform young people how
you are going to feedback any issues, decisions etc, to them.
16
From the very last point you will see that new needs can be identified so
the planning process begins again.
1 What is the NEED?
There is a need to improve the involvement of young people in this group.
2 What do I AIM to do about this? Establish an effective way of engaging
young people consistently to ensure they are involved in all developments.
3 What specific OBJECTIVES can I set?



By the end of the first month each member will be asked their
opinions about the organisation and what they would like to see in
the future and how they would like to be involved.
In the 2nd and 3rd month a selection of identified activities will be
piloted to see if members are interested in long term
programmes/projects
By month 4th members will have decided how take part and be
effective linking with other staff, volunteers, management
committees etc
4 What is the best METHOD to achieve the
desired results?
5 How do I IMPLEMENT the plan?
6 How do I EVALUATE the plan?










Have I met my objectives?
Ask the members to review the activities after they have taken part.
What went well?
What difficulties occurred?
What should we do in the future?
List the linking activities and check the frequency
and type of activity.
Discuss with members their perception, knowledge, and
understanding of the
plan .
List the success of the involvement of young people.
Good Planning Checklist
1. Have we Identified and prioritised the important activities and
milestones?
2. Have we assessed risk and thought about alternatives and
contingency plans if circumstances change?
3. Have we defined, clarified and assigned roles and responsibilities?
4. Does everyone involved know what their task or responsibility
involves, and can carry it out?
5. Does everyone have a workload that is manageable and fair, as well
as being challenging?
6. Have we agreed a budget and costed all activities and will we achieve
results within the budget?
7. Have we also planned how we are going to monitor and evaluate?
1. What is the NEED of members? of the group? of the leaders? Why?
2. What do I AIM to do about this?
 What do I want to do? Why?
 Where do I want to go? Why?
3. What specific OBJECTIVES can be set?
 What will others be able to do as a result?
 How will effectiveness be measured?
 What exactly will be the end result?
 When must the plan be completed?
 What will be the criteria for success?
4. What is the best METHOD to achieve the desired results?
 What activity should I use?
 How shall I group the members or Leaders:
 groups, pairs, individually?
 What resources do I need?
 What is my time plan?
5 How do I IMPLEMENT the plan?
Do it!
6. How do I EVALUATE the plan?
 Did I meet my objectives?
 What went well?
 What difficulties occurred?
 What could be learned for the future?
 What new needs exist?
Establishing Needs3
The first stage is to establish the NEEDS to be addressed. Some would object to
this term, when it is used with reference to the needs of users, participants or
clients, on the basis that it has paternalistic overtones. The implication is that if
professionals determine these needs they are acting in a “superior” manner on
the basis of their power over they people they serve. One aspect of the criticism
is that it is simply unethical for one person to do this to another. It can also said
that the implied relationship between the worker and the participant is
inappropriate in community education settings, when the aim is to work in an
empowering way on the basis of a commitment to equality. A further criticism is
that a focus on needs leads to a victim blaming approach to problems that often
have their origins in the flawed social structure. An alternative view lays stress on
the fact that people have rights that are in some way being infringed. The focus is
then on deficits in the social structure rather than alleged weaknesses in the
capacity of the participants, or the community of which they are members, to
provide adequately for themselves. These are important points and should make
us cautious about the uncritical use of certain terms. We may still use NEEDS but
perhaps in the more straightforward sense of what needs to be done.
The
implication here is that the worker has to survey the situation in order to identify
the issues to be addressed. This can, and should, be done in conjunction with
participants. Of course there are also areas of work that do not involve contact
with users or participants. The stages outlined here apply equally to such noncontact areas but we shall concentrate on those aspects of work that involve
contact with those served.
What is the NEED of young people? Of the group? Of the Youth Workers?
Why?
3
The Moray House School of Education
at the University of Edinburgh
Relating Needs to Aims
Work takes place within a general set of AIMS. An aim is a general goal in
response to the identified issues.
If the issue is around, for example, poor
housing or lack of facilities, or vandalism or unemployment, then the aim is to turn
around or eradicate the conditions that have caused these problems. The
connection might not be so straightforward, however, as the aim is not a simple
opposite to the identified situation. Whilst one might seek to stop vandalism by
young people in a local community, for instance, the aim might be to reflect a
more complex desire to stop vandalism by providing productive activities for the
perpetrators. Discussions about aims are useful for forcing the issue about what
exactly is meant and what are the underpinning assumptions about causes.
Aims, therefore, can reflect underlying ideological commitments and theoretical
positions. Assuming that vandalism is simply the result of malicious behaviour will
lead to one set of remedies, whilst explanations that point to structural deficits,
such as unemployment, might lead to another set of responses. If we take the
latter, the aim might be expressed in terms of:
Reducing the incidence of vandalism in the area by tackling its root causes.
Having thought it through it is useful to split a general aim into a number of
strategic objectives. With respect to the above aim, strategic objectives might
include something like the following:




Involving all sections of the community in serious consideration
of the issues.
Enabling the voice of young people to be heard by local, and
other, power brokers.
Countering the negative view of young people in the area.
Raising awareness of lack of facilities
Strategic objectives are an expression of priorities for the work.
They direct
attention to certain intentions and in so doing screen out others. It is important to
realise that there are choices to be made, and making these choices forces careful
discussion of the reasons for and against. In turn, strategic objectives need to be
translated into more detailed objectives if they are to be realised in practice.
Determining and Setting Objectives
Setting detailed OBJECTIVES is about breaking the broad intentions of strategy into
concrete steps. Doing so appears to be self-evidently useful but some caution must
be exercised. There are questions about how many and how detailed objectives
need to be.
The argument is that an over abundance of objectives with an
excessive amount of detail could be too complicated and cumbersome to realise in
practice situations that are, in many cases, characterised by uncertainty and fluidity.
One can plan a series of meetings with the “vandals” but they may not turn up. The
fact that much of our work is contingent upon other factors, not least the
unpredictability of some of the people that we serve, is not a reason to abandon
setting objectives.
These must be sufficient to point the way forward but be
amenable to change and development given altered circumstances.
A useful
conceptual tool for translating broad aims into objectives is to adopt the 5WH
approach. This involves providing answers to the following questions:
o
o
o
o
o
o
Why must something be done?
What is to be done and achieved?
Where is it to be done?
Who is involved and in what way?
When is it to be done and over what period?
How is it to be done?
Answering the above questions can make the process of evaluation (see below) easier
and more focussed, since it is easier to see what has been achieved when the
objectives have been set clearly.
Answering the questions also enables the
practitioner to move on to the next stage in the planning process.
Apply the 5WH formula to one of your objectives.
Selecting Methods
What is going to be the best youth work process or delivery method to enable you
to achieve what you need to with young people?
The means by which action is taken can be included under the heading of
METHODS. This is more than a simple catalogue of techniques. Method implies
an over-arching approach to working with people within which techniques, tools
and skills can be deployed.
Street theatre, community arts, outdoor pursuits,
cultural action, research, social action and detached youth work, are all examples
of methods. Working with groups may be a feature common to all of them but
when there is a commitment to a particular approach, this too is a method. Choice
of method is dependent on purpose.
The next stage follows from choice of
method.
What method or methods do you use in your work? What are the
justifications for working in this way?
Implementing Plans
IMPLEMENTATION has two references. Firstly it refers to the act of carrying out
the plan. It is the action phase when intentions and commitments are realised in
concrete attempts to influence the identified situation or address the specified
issues.
When working with two or more colleagues it is important to assign
responsibility for particular actions to individuals. This way everyone is clear about
who has undertaken to do what and by when. Care has to be taken to ensure that
the workload is spread sensibly and equally. Resentment can arise when one has
a greater burden than another for no apparent reason. The second reference is to
the means by which implementation will be supported. It is important to pin down
resource issues at the start. What money, equipment, time, materials and so on
will be required to achieve the objectives? Careful thought about resources can
ensure that action is properly supported. At the same time, consideration about
actual resources available can make practitioners realise that their plans are
unrealistic. This may mean going back to the objectives phase to think again
about what is achievable.
It may also mean that resources have to be obtained
and this requirement can be built into the strategic or the detailed objectives.
Another useful acronym to assist in this process of implementation is the notion of
being SMART. It means ensuring that objectives are:

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Resourced

Timed
State your responsibilities (these should be reflected in your job description).
To what extent do your key tasks reflect the strategic objectives of the
agency/organisation? Apply the SMART formula to one of your key tasks.
Evaluating the work (Monitoring)
The final phase in this model involves EVALUATION. Evaluation is the process by
which results are checked against intentions. It literally means ascribing value to
what has been done and achieved. At its simplest it involves answering apparently
straightforward questions such as:



Did we achieve what we set out to achieve?
What parts have we succeeded in and where have we failed?
What did we do well and what did we do badly?
As part of a learning and development cycle – evaluation or reviewing is crucial to
good youth work practice.
1.
It should be done with young people throughout sessions and programmes as
part of the monitoring process. By getting feedback the session or programme
can be altered straight away to make it more fun/appropriate/effective…….
2.
This doesn’t have to take too long or be substantial – it can be fun or activity
based.
3.
Evaluation should also take place at the end of a session or programme:
A.
With young people - it is an opportunity to seek their feedback. They
have been on the receiving end and may have a lot of insightful
things to contribute.
It is also a good opportunity to consolidate learning outcomes with young
people and work with them to process their distance travelled.
B.
With workers – colleagues need to make time for regular
opportunities to assess whether objectives have been met, discuss
working relationships and operational issues.
One designated worker should also take responsibility for collating the final
project evaluation. It may take the form of a report to stakeholders or
presentation to a manager for example.
Did we meet the objectives? What went well? What difficulties occurred?
What could be learned for the future? What new needs exist?
What makes a good youth work session?
Progressive sessions linked to each other and the curriculum with
ideas and activities which flow neatly from one subject into another.
Plans which provides structure but also allow for flexibility.
Sessions and projects which meet the needs of young people and
interest and engage them.
 Building relationships is at the core of youth work. How do you plan
for responsive interaction and spontaneous discussion?
 Understanding progression. Become familiar with Resourcing
Excellent Youth Service (REYS) outcomes:




A – Contact
B – Participation
C – Recorded Outcomes
D – Accredited outcomes
 You can find a detailed breakdown and explanation of these
outcomes in ‘Recording Young People’s Progress and
Accreditation in Youth Work’ (NYA 2005) on www.nya.org.uk
 Making it fun and participative. Young people often vote with their
feet and youth work needs to involve and interest them in order to
engage and retain them.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Mo Sykes – YMCA Wales
Gareth Jones – Swansea Youth Service
Hayley Wood - CWVYS